Wounds of word war-craft cannot be seen,

cannot be photographed, do not reveal themselves

as visible evidence in Court No. 1. Yet this abuse too

resonates – and whilst mental scarring also heals

much like a bruise, or a bone broken in anger,

it is carried, leaden, inert, hidden:

hidden, that is

until the point of no return is reached.

———-

This week, on dVerse Poetics, Shanyn has asked us to write as if words are seeds. What an interesting idea, not to mention, imaginative!

I’m not quite sure if I have travelled down the right (weed-strewn) path with this one, however, I was keeping plant life in mind as I wrote and, as you can tell, looked at word-seeds sown that really should be kept to themselves. Whilst weeds, I think, are beautiful plants and flowers growing in a place that we humans did not choose, word-seeds of the nasty sort should never be sown at all! Bullying is wrong, irrespective of whether it is physical or mental.

Please pop over to dVerse to see how others have risen to the word-seed challenge – I will be linking up later!

*Columbine, or aquilegia is actually my favourite flower – how ironic that it is poisonous!

45 thoughts on “Columbine – dVerse”

when i worked in counseling there was a lot of undoing the damage that words did…unlike physical wounds which heal often the verbal ones fester and last beneath the surface…forcing people to believe things about themselves that are not true…word wounds are much longer lasting…

So much damage can be done with those sarcastic and vitriolic words. Often the damage doesn’t surface until years later. A bullied child lives with damage for a long time. Your poem tells it like it is.

It is incredible how, years after the words were uttered, people can remember hurtful words that they were told as children. I tend to believe that it is for parents to teach their kids how to use words wisely, not least by doing so themselves.

This is the third time this week that I’ve been reminded of the destructive potential of words. Twice in poetry, once in the bible. That final couplet says so much. Words can destroy the will to live. And I didn’t know beautiful columbine were poisonous!

One of the problems with being an Actor for a decade was the negative reinforcement, the being rebuked, turned down, disrespected; driving me into another vocation before my self image eroded completely. We of the wordsmith community certainly (hopefully) understand the power of words; nice take on the prompt.

I love the line “Seeds are sprinkled with an eye……….”. From beginning to end, you described the damage and scars words can leave behind. Amazing! Thank you for letting me know my link wasn’t working on my blog, My Constant Thoughts.

Just had this conversation earlier today with my older son, who tends to start shouting ‘I hate you! You are a monster! You are XXX -horrible adjective…’ whenever he gets frustrated. His anger (and his own words) are forgotten within 15 minutes, but for those who were the target of his anger, those destructive words leave lasting wounds. Or so I try to explain. Maybe I should read him your poem instead – it says it so much more eloquently.